After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal
The long, twisting afterlife of Oscar Wilde is touchingly portrayed by the beloved playwright’s grandson in Merlin Holland’s After Oscar. This large and personal biography takes an episodic and non-chronological approach to Wilde and his legacy, which Holland positions among rigorous research and his own personal memories.
Beginning when Wilde was released from prison in 1897 after serving two years for “gross indecency,” Holland focuses most of this beefy book on the century of sensationalist interpretations that he seeks to correct. Much of the personal history follows Holland’s father and uncle, Vyvyan and Cyril, when they became the executor’s of Wilde’s estate after both their parents’ deaths. The final third of the book explores what happened after Vyvyan’s death in 1967 and the author’s own insights into his family’s legacy, as well as his debunking of the many forgeries and fake artifacts that people have tried to pass off as real.
Fans of Oscar Wilde will welcome this honest and skillfully written personal account of the man’s long shadow.
